Build AirSim on Linux¶
The current recommended and tested environment is Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. Theoretically, you can build on other distros and OSX as well, but we haven’t tested it.
We’ve two options - you can either build inside docker containers or your host machine.
Host machine¶
Build Unreal Engine and Airsim¶
Make sure you are registered with Epic Games. This is required to get source code access for Unreal Engine.
Clone Unreal in your favorite folder and build it (this may take a while!). Note: We only support Unreal 4.18 at present.
# go to the folder where you clone GitHub projects git clone -b 4.18 https://github.com/EpicGames/UnrealEngine.git cd UnrealEngine ./Setup.sh ./GenerateProjectFiles.sh make
Clone AirSim and build it:
# go to the folder where you clone GitHub projects git clone https://github.com/Microsoft/AirSim.git cd AirSim By default AirSim recommends using clang 5 to build the binaries as those will be compatible with Unreal. The setup script will install the right version of cmake, llvm, and eigen: ./setup.sh ./build.sh
Optionally, if you need GCC binaries for some other reason, you can simply add gcc to the setup and build invocation, like this:
./setup.sh --gcc ./build.sh --gcc
Build Unreal Environment¶
Finally, you will need an Unreal project that hosts the environment for your vehicles. AirSim comes with a built-in “Blocks Environment” which you can use, or you can create your own. Please see setting up Unreal Environment.
[Optional] Setup Remote Control (Multirotor Only)¶
A remote control is required if you want to fly manually. See the remote control setup for more details.
Alternatively, you can use APIs for programmatic control or use the so-called Computer Vision mode to move around using the keyboard.
How to Use AirSim¶
Once AirSim is set up by following above steps, you can,
- Go to
UnrealEngine
folder and start Unreal by runningUnrealEngine/Engine/Binaries/Linux/UE4Editor
. - When Unreal Engine prompts for opening or creating project, select Browse and choose
AirSim/Unreal/Environments/Blocks
(or your custom Unreal project). - If you get prompts to convert project, look for More Options or Convert-In-Place option. If you get prompted to build, chose Yes. If you get prompted to disable AirSim plugin, choose No.
- After Unreal Editor loads, press Play button. Tip: go to ‘Edit->Editor Preferences’, in the ‘Search’ box type ‘CPU’ and ensure that the ‘Use Less CPU when in Background’ is unchecked.
See Using APIs and settings.json for various options available.
FAQs¶
I’m getting error “
could not be compiled. Try rebuilding from source manually”. - This could either happen because of compile error or the fact that your gch files are outdated. Look in to your console window. Do you see something like below?
fatal error: file '/usr/include/linux/version.h''/usr/include/linux/version.h' has been modified since the precompiled header
- If this is the case then look for *.gch file(s) that follows after that message, delete them and try again. Here’s relevant thread on Unreal Engine forums.
- If you see other compile errors in console then open up those source files and see if it is due to changes you made. If not, then report it as issue on GitHub.
Unreal crashed! How do I know what went wrong?
- Go to the
MyUnrealProject/Saved/Crashes
folder and search for the fileMyProject.log
within its subdirectories. At the end of this file you will see the stack trace and messages.You can also take a look at theDiagnostics.txt
file.
- Go to the
How do I use an IDE on Linux?
- You can use Qt Creator or CodeLite. Instructions for Qt Creator are available here.
Can I cross compile for Linux from a Windows machine?
- Yes, you can, but we haven’t tested it. You can find the instructions here.
What compiler and stdlib does AirSim use?
- We use the same compiler that Unreal Engine uses, Clang 5.0, and stdlib, libc++. AirSim’s
setup.sh
will automatically download them both. The libc++ source code is cloned into thellvm-source-(version)
folder and is built into thellvm-build
folder, from where CMake uses libc++.
- We use the same compiler that Unreal Engine uses, Clang 5.0, and stdlib, libc++. AirSim’s
What version of CMake does the AirSim build use?
- 3.9.0 or higher. This is not the default in Ubuntu 16.04 so setup.sh installs it for you. You can check your CMake version using
cmake --version
. If you have an older version, follow these instructions or see the CMake website.
- 3.9.0 or higher. This is not the default in Ubuntu 16.04 so setup.sh installs it for you. You can check your CMake version using
Can I compile AirSim in BashOnWindows?
- Yes, however, you can’t run Unreal from BashOnWindows. So this is kind of useful to check a Linux compile, but not for an end-to-end run.See the BashOnWindows install guide.Make sure to have the latest version (Windows 10 Creators Edition) as previous versions had various issues.Also, don’t invoke
bash
fromVisual Studio Command Prompt
, otherwise CMake might find VC++ and try and use that!
- Yes, however, you can’t run Unreal from BashOnWindows. So this is kind of useful to check a Linux compile, but not for an end-to-end run.See the BashOnWindows install guide.Make sure to have the latest version (Windows 10 Creators Edition) as previous versions had various issues.Also, don’t invoke
Where can I find more info on running Unreal on Linux?